What to Know About Travelling to Naples Italy

I acknowledge that I was apprehensive before my first visit to Naples a few months ago. Armed with great pre-trip advice from people who know and love the city, bolstered by on-the-ground aid from a local tour guide, and taken in past the warmth of the people I met forth the fashion, I ended up falling in love with Naples and have been dreaming about a return ever since.
But oftentimes when I tell people how much I enjoyed my stay in Naples, I'g met with a genu-jerk reaction or surprise and/or resistance, sometimes from people who've never even been there. Why? Well, Naples is a urban center preceded by its reputation. Sure, some of the rumors nearly Naples are true – only non all of them. And, in my opinion, none of them are reason enough to not go to Naples. This city may require that y'all pay a bit more attention every bit a tourist, but that doesn't mean you should scratch it off your list.
In the months since my trip to Naples, I've encouraged others to visit the urban center – and I'm pleased to say they've returned with stories of how much they loved it, too. So I wanted to put some of the advice I gave them in an article here for all of you.
Here are some things you should know about Naples before you go.

Sure, Naples is dingy – simply so are many other big cities in the world.

One of the stereotypes yous may hear about Naples is that it'southward dirty, and people fifty-fifty use this as an excuse to non visit the city. What, I wonder, constitutes a clean city? Would any of the people who spiral upward their noses as they say, "Naples is muddy" say the same things almost New York or London or Paris? Considering I don't know about you, but if I drop a slice of nutrient on the ground in whatever big urban center around the world, I'm sure not going to pick it up and eat it.
Okay, I'one thousand being a little flippant here, but anyone who expects a urban center the size of Naples to exist "clean" (whatever that means) is expecting as well much. In that location is definitely room for comeback in the overall cleanliness department in Naples, but the grittiness of Naples is no reason not to visit.

The streets in the tourist areas of Naples are not piled high with garbage.

This indicate is related to the first one, but it deserves to be called out on its own. Naples is often in the news we get in the U.South. for not the best of reasons, then you may have heard about the garbage drove strikes last year and how there were burning piles of trash in the streets.
At that place are certainly issues with the garbage collection in Naples, and there take been for years – that wasn't the showtime time at that place'southward been a strike of the trash collectors, and it'south likely non to be the last. But the vast majority of the "piles of garbage" were non in the tourist areas of Naples, even at the height of the problem last yr. Well-nigh of the trash piles were in some of the more than modernistic parts of the city, and even further out, into the suburbs.
But an even more important bespeak is that you probably never heard the conclusion of that story, and then you lot may think that the people in Naples are still dodging piles of trash. Allow me clinch you, they're not. Information technology'due south back to business every bit usual in Naples now, so go without fear of having a burning pile of garbage obstructing your view of the historic sights.
>> Note that this was true when it was first written, and also that the garbage-in-the-streets problem comes and goes with some regularity in Naples. I've since been there when there was, in fact, garbage in the streets of the historic center – and life went on as usual. It's disconcerting, but that alone shouldn't keep you from going.

Is there a Mafia problem in Naples? Admittedly. Will you fifty-fifty notice it as a visitor? Probably not.

Some other common stereotype you hear about Naples is that it'south dangerous. This stereotype, like many, has some truth behind it, but let's suspension it down a little chip so that it's useful from the traveler's perspective – considering your feel equally a visitor is going to be very unlike from the experience you lot'd have if you lot lived there.
Naples (and the region) has a serious historic and ongoing trouble with organized offense. There'southward no getting around that. But for the most function, that level of crime doesn't touch tourists. You might hear reports about how the Camorra (the Naples Mafia) controls certain local industries (such as garbage drove) which are then completely corrupt. Merely equally big of a problem equally that may be, if you're just visiting you probably don't care what happens to the trash subsequently you driblet it in your hotel room's waste bin.
On the other paw, Naples also has a college-than-boilerplate rate of piffling theft, which does impact tourists. The ii most common crimes in Naples are purse snatching and jewelry theft, and you lot should absolutely have precautions against both. Naples isn't unique in this section, since in that location are pickpockets and handbag snatchers targeting tourists in big cities around the globe every day, but if you're a careful person y'all're less likely to expect like – or become – a victim.
As I said earlier, Naples' reputation reaches you long earlier you reach the urban center, so information technology'due south natural to arrive with your guard up. And, every bit fate would take information technology, that's probably not entirely a bad matter. Simply having your guard upwardly and having a chip on your shoulder are two different things.

The pizza really is better in Naples.

Some pizza lovers volition say they adopt the pizza in Rome, but don't mind to them. At that place'south perfectly good pizza in Rome, don't get me wrong – but the pizza in Naples is an entirely different fauna. And since information technology was Naples where the pizza originated, I'chiliad gonna become with Naples on this i.
Now, depending on who you talk to, you lot'll become pointed to different pizza places in Naples as the ones with "the best pizza" or "the most authentic pizza" or what have you. I accept a favorite, only I also know passionate and smart people who take a different favorite, so I'm willing to believe in that location'due south plenty of slap-up pizza to exist had in Naples. In fact, I encourage y'all to try several places and pick your own favorite.
There are places serving bad pizza in Naples, simply keep your optics open up and you'll exist able to steer clear of them. Any pizza articulation with a crowd of locals milling out front end is a proficient one to try, and if the sign overhead says "vera pizza napoletana" that'south usually a good omen, also.
>> And here's a bonus bit of pizza noesis for Naples – did you know you can social club a small pizza if your appetite isn't upwardly to the standard size? Thanks to a tweet by @ABrushWithItaly I found out that you can order a "mignon" pizza (pronounced like the French, meen-YON). Practiced to know!

Naples is an enormous and sprawling metropolis – just the historic center is fantastically compact and platonic for exploring on foot.

It's hard to go an idea of how big Naples is when you're in it, but if you have the good fortune of taking a boat to Sorrento or one of the islands off the coast and can look back at the urban center from the water, yous'll meet just how gigantic information technology is. Buildings crawl practically halfway up the side of Mt. Vesuvius, and fill up every visible nook and cranny of the land.
Information technology's overwhelming, and I'm quite glad I didn't encounter that view until I'd been in the city for a couple days and already taken a liking to it.
The thing is, as is the case with many celebrated cities in Italia and elsewhere, at that place are two sides to Naples – an historic side, and a modern side. The modern metropolis of Naples is the sprawl, and although at that place are some things tucked into that sprawl that visitors might detect interesting (especially more intrepid travelers and/or those who have visited the city earlier), the majority of the stuff that tourists volition want to run into and do in Naples is in a pretty small part of the metropolis.
The area called the centro antico (the "ancient" center) is incredibly compact and makes a keen base of operations for a visit. Beyond the boundaries of that maze of ancient streets there are lots of museums and galleries that are inside walking altitude or reachable by a brusque passenger vehicle ride. In other words, don't let the hugeness of Naples freak you out. Just concentrate on the historic parts and ignore the rest of it.

Naples is hilly.

Having said all that about exploring the historic center on pes, let me at least warn you that before you glance at a tourist map and determine that a certain altitude "looks walkable" you should probably consult with someone local. Naples is deceptively hilly, and although most of the centro antico is fairly flat it's a walk either uphill or downhill to get to the port, to the National Archaeological Museum, to the railroad train station… Just most anywhere.
In fact, in that location's a popular palace and museum begetting the proper name "Capodimonte" that's well worth a visit – merely you lot should know that the name "Capodimonte" means "top of the colina." And they're non kidding about the hill. Luckily, there are a few "funicular" cable cars that calibration the hillsides so that you can visit things similar the Capodimonte Museum and the Vomero neighborhood.

If y'all like the whole stepping dorsum in fourth dimension experience yous get in Rome, y'all'll dearest Naples.

One of the allures of Rome is all that "sometime stuff" – the Colosseum continuing proudly at the finish of a modern street full of modern traffic, buildings from a few centuries ago overlooking the Forum ruins of a couple millennia agone. It's heady stuff. But even though ancient Rome is very much a part of the Rome of today, it still feels a footling scrap like a museum piece, what with the un-crossable rope lines and admission fees and whatnot.
Naples, on the other hand, is a museum piece that's yet very much live. It's ane of the oldest cities in the western globe, and was an of import Greek city as far back as the 8th century BCE. In the celebrated center of today's Naples, yous walk down ancient streets aslope speeding Vespas, and wander in and out of shops in historic buildings – and at that place's not a rope line in sight. Those shops, businesses, and apartments you're walking by take been there for centuries – it's only the people in them (and the stuff they're selling) that has changed.
Like Rome (and many cities in Italy), much of Naples' history is too hush-hush – and it's history you can visit with a trip into the basement of the San Lorenzo Maggiore church where y'all'll find a partially excavated Roman market. What's more, information technology'due south not merely ancient Roman ruins yous go a glimpse of right in the eye of Naples but also the Greek ruins that are buried underneath the Roman ones. There are layers of history here, and a visit in Naples is bound to make anyone experience a trivial flake like an archeologist.

Y'know how in many cities the neighborhood around the railroad train station isn't a identify yous'd want to hang out? That'south fifty-fifty more true in Naples.

In just almost every city I've ever been to, the area right around the train station isn't exactly the prettiest function of town. But in many of those places, that neighborhood is reasonably rubber and fifty-fifty where I stay when I visit. In Naples, however, I don't recommend that.
There's zilch so dangerous about the neighborhood effectually the Naples train station that should make you afraid to arrive in the city past train, but this is i of the parts of town where some of the people I met in Naples (the ones who live at that place) said I shouldn't go after dark, especially as a woman traveling alone.
In addition to the generally unsavory atmosphere around the train station, I too think it's unwise to book a room in a hotel in this area because information technology'southward too far from the historic center (where you desire to exist – trust me). Y'all aren't probable to want to brand that trek on human foot in the daylight, and it'due south even less highly-seasoned at dark. I know there are a bunch of cheap places to stay right around the train station, but I still suggest y'all find a place in the historic center. You'll be happier, and the chances are better that you'll similar the city, also.

The cabbies in Naples are non all out to rip yous off.

In that location are well-documented stories of how taxi drivers in Naples (and Rome, for that matter) charge unsuspecting tourists exorbitant fares. Merely if you always hear "all the taxi drivers in Naples overcharge passengers," yous tin can call that what it is – distortion.
Most of the ugly stories yous'll hear about cabbies in Naples involve them either not turning on the meter or challenge it's broken, and and then demanding some outrageous fare when they've already driven you where you wanted to go. Every taxi I got into in Naples had a working meter that the cabbie turned on immediately, and I've heard from other travelers that they didn't accept problems with the taxis, either.
It's likely that there are however some taxi drivers in Naples who volition try to pull this stunt, simply there's an easy fix for it – if they don't plough on the meter when you're getting in the cab and they won't turn it on upon request, get out of that taxi and choose another ane. But delight don't assume all taxi drives in Naples are cheats. And yous never know, some of them might but entertain you.

Naples lets you get off the beaten path – without getting off the beaten path.

Many travelers to Italy don't go south of Rome. And many who practice venture south avoid Naples because, let's face information technology, the city has a bad rap. So if you're one of the people who's trying to avert tourist crowds simply doesn't desire to rent a car and bulldoze to some tiny and remote town in Basilicata to practice so, look no further than the urban center of Naples.
Naples is the big city that's hidden in obviously sight. Depending on what stats you expect at, it's either the 2nd or 3rd most populous city in Italy, and yet fifty-fifty at the top of tourist season you won't discover the same crowds as you do in Rome, Venice, or fifty-fifty pint-sized Verona. Heck, miniscule Sorrento is crawling with tourists (and kitschy souvenir shops) when nearby Naples is not.
Equally I've noted above, some of this is easily attributed to the reputation Naples has as existence muddied or dangerous. But every bit I've also explained, those alone are not reason enough to skip Naples – and the absence of crowds really makes information technology more desirable to go.
photos, tiptop to lesser, by: the pink sip, Daveness_98, Jessica Spiegel (and may not exist used without permission), Schantzilla, dawvon, Argenberg, Jessica Spiegel (and may not exist used without permission), feline_dacat, scalleja, Patrik Axelsson, Sami Keinänen

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Source: https://www.italylogue.com/planning-a-trip/things-you-should-know-about-naples.html

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